Abstract
Fuel-related measures and modernization of small-scale combustion units has become the focus of attention in the renewable heat generation sector, as a means to promote local biomass utilization and fuel-flexibility while meeting strict environmental legislative requirements. With the aim to mitigate total particulate matter emissions and ash-associated problems characteristic of crop residue combustion, (1) corn cob pellets (with and without kaolin and binder) as well as (2) fuel blends with wood pellets were combusted in a pellet oven under full load. Results show that additivation or fuel blending (e.g., 50 wt. % wood and 50 wt. % corn cob pellets) reduce total particulate and CO-emissions by 48 to 60 wt. % and 64 to 89 wt. %, respectively, in comparison to baseline emissions from non-additivized corn cob pellets. Kaolin prevented sintering of corn cob ash. However, considerable grate ash entrainment was observed. TPM consists of a “primary network”—polyhedral and spherical particles approximately 1 μm in diameter (mainly KCl), and a “secondary network” built on top of the primary network, consisting of square-prism-shaped particles of approximately 200 nm in diameter. KCl and K2SO4 are main compounds in particles from corn cob and wood pellet combustion, respectively. Effective measures demonstrated within this study should be complemented with low-cost coarse ash removal systems.
Highlights
Academic Editors: Rajender Gupta and Dmitri A
The overarching goal of this paper is to investigate the joint implementation of different primary measures such as fuel-processing, additivation, and fuel-blending on the process performance during corn cob combustion in a small-scale fixed bed combustion unit, including reduction of total particulate matter (TPM-) emissions, carbon monoxide (CO-) emissions, ash sintering, as well as the overall efficiency
Reductions of approximately 48 wt. % and 36 wt. % were measured with the addition of 1.5 wt. % of kaolin and 1 wt. % kaolin respectively, in comparison with TPM-emissions from combustion of non-additivized corn cob pellets with and without binder, respectively
Summary
Academic Editors: Rajender Gupta and Dmitri A. As a CO2 -neutral renewable energy source, makes up a large share of renewable energy use today; it is expected to remain a significant fuel source in the future with the potential to replace fossil fuels both in the energy sector, as well as in the production of novel materials and biofuels [1,2]. Crop residues (wheat straw, rice straw, corn stover, corn cobs etc.) could prove as such in small-scale units simultaneously promoting energy independence and economic development. Corn residues are of particular interest for energetic utilization due to its energetic potential and the need for adequate biowaste management. Corn is a major crop worldwide and its production has been growing steadily ed from 568 Mio. t in 1994 to 1148 Mio. t in 2018 [3]
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